Week Eight- Walkers Tweet to Eat

The world’s first Twitter-activated vending machine puts the crunch back into a Walkers Crisps promotion.

Background

Walkers Crisps has been making Brits smile since 1948, and with 10 million bags eaten every day, it’s fair to say their snacks really are the nation’s favourite.

Its marketing efforts over the years haven’t been too shabby either. Take the Do Us A Flavour promotion; launched in 2008, Walkers turned a traditional FMCG promotion into something revolutionary by inviting the public to invent the next flavour of crisps.

But fast-forward to 2014, and following a rash of FMCG imitators, Do Us a Flavour was in danger of going stale, particularly amongst younger millennials. Walkers asked OMD UK to put the crunch back into the original and best, making it famous all over again.

The big idea

For 2014, OMD UK’s challenge was to behave in exactly the same way as we had in 2008, turning tradition into revolution.

Say Hello to ‘Tweet to Eat’. In a world first, the team at OMD UK took a very ordinary bus shelter 6-sheet, and turned it into a Twitter- activated vending machine on London’s Oxford Street; a revolutionary concept that stayed true to their ambition, and capitalised on millennials’ love for social and mobile.

Making it happen

Making this a reality took a unique combination of Twitter, digital screens, purpose-built software and traditional vending machine hardware. With only 20cm of depth, they had a lot to fit inside!

Then OMD UK had some fun; digital creative was designed to give those waiting at the bus stop the illusion of brand ambassador Gary Lineker trapped inside the poster site. Gary interacts with people in the street in real-time, waving and taking pictures with them and even notificating people if their bus had arrived. Communicating via a hand-written sign Gary also lets people know that f they tweet the advertisement, they’ll get a free packet of Walkers crisps. After they do, Gary appears to get a Twitter notification, which he responds to by dropping a packet of crisps through the chute, into the hands of the tweeting customer.

Of course, OMD UK wanted to give the vending machine fame on a national scale too, and so created a 90-second film that was pushed out on social channels, giving the whole nation a reason to talk about the new flavours.

About

As part of a global OMD network of 11,000+ people in over 135 offices, we deliver insights that unlock demand potential, ideas that ignite consumer desire and results that accelerate business growth for our clients. We are a dynamic, creative and influential agency network that collectively combines to make OMD the most awarded agency network in the world.